A migration official in the coastal city of Huiyang in the nation's south has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking bribes and dereliction of duty.

He Guanghu, the former director of the migration office under the Huiyang municipal government in Guangdong Province, was sentenced by the Huiyang Intermediate People's Court on Friday.

He was convicted of accepting a large number of bribes and neglecting his duties while working in 2002.

He accepted bribes totalling more than 301,000 yuan (US$36,400), plus HK$10,000 (US$1,300), from six local contractors after he illegally granted them permission to construct 13 migration villages for people coming from the Three Gorges area between March and April in 2002.

The villages cover more than 17,980 square metres, costing the central government more than 11 million yuan (US$1.33 million).

He's acts were exposed and he was detained in late February after local government received reports in October from the people who had moved to the new villages that their newly completed homes were cracking, leaking and even sinking.

The Huizhou municipal government has, so far, invested more than 1.3 million yuan (US$157,200) to help reconstruct the homes.

And another 2.1 million yuan (US$253,000) will be needed in the future for the renovation project to be completed.

More than 260 homes in the 13 villages have quality problems.

Guangdong Province, which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, is one of the major destinations for people coming from the Three Gorges area.

In addition to Huizhou, the cities of Foshan and Zhaoqing have also received people from the area.

(China Daily May 31, 2004)